The 2007 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass was, as one writer put it, all about change. From remodeling the clubhouse to replacing the dirt on the course, the changes revitalized this Championship venue, bringing a fresh look to the anchor of the PGA Tour’s Florida swing. And nearly every player in the tournament greeted these changes positively, especially Phil Mickelson, last year’s winner.

But two changes stood out. The re-schedule of the tournament from March to May and the on-course alterations significantly increased the challenge of winning The Players Championship for a star-studded field that included Tiger Woods. These changes not only illustrate just how much weather conditions can impact a player’s score, but also why even weekend golfers must study the courses they play if they want to maintain a low golf handicap.

Re-scheduling The Tournament
The Players Championship anchored the Tour’s Florida swing for years. When most of the country was just warming up to the golf season, this tournament was showcasing the sport. However, the reasons for moving the date of The Players from March to May outweighed the tradition of maintaining the Florida Swing—which remained intact with the addition of the PODS Championship in Tampa and the playing of the World Golf Championships-CA Championship at Doral in Miami.

The schedule change eliminated the late March pattern of inconsistent weather in north Florida, which often brought tournament-halting rain. It also brought together the game’s top players in key tournaments for five straight months, from The Masters in April to the PGA Championship in August. The change creates a nice flow of events, good for attendance, players, and television viewers. With all these pluses going for it, the change was easy to approve.

Shaping Up The Course
The change of dates also meant that tournament officials could set up the course the way course designer Pete Dye intended—fast and firm with Bermuda grass rough. When the tournament was played in March, officials seeded the course with rye grass to get the course ready. But now, they didn’t have to use rye grass.

In addition, the officials had the grounds keepers dig up the entire playing surface and replace the soil with 6 to 8 inches of water-draining sand. The old soil had become clogged over the years with organic material that inhibited drainage. Officials also lengthened some holes.

“Over the years, technology has taken away some of the holes that were at one time considered the long holes,” said PGA Master Professional And TPC National Director of Golf, Billy Dettlaff, in a recent interview. “So we’ve added a little bit of yardage to certain holes to bring back the original integrity of the course. Now for example, hole no. 8, which was always intended to be the longest par 3 on the course, will play as a long par 3 again, vs. a mid-iron shot which is what it had become in recent times.”

In addition, the PGA TOUR installed a SubAir subsurface mechanical drainage system under the greens to vacuum water in wet conditions and inject air, if necessary. However, the course was draining so well on its own last year that the maintenance staff only had to turn on the SubAir for testing before last year’s tournament. Hopefully, it will be the same this year’s.

Forced To Be Accurate
The changes at TPC Sawgrass force players to be more accurate off the tee than previously, since off-line tee shots would bounce more readily into difficult positions. Meanwhile, new chipping areas around the greens make the short game even more vital to good scoring. In addition, the change to drier weather and the course alterations make the surface firmer. It also makes scoring more difficult.

In short, the course is designed to host championship golf and the conditions reflect that. The course tests every facet of a player’s game. You have to hit good approach shots, so you need good drives in order to hit those. All your short game shots have to be working, because if you miss the green, saving par is a really tough task. And you have to putt well to win, since the greens are small and roll fast.

Add to the changes three of the toughest finishing holes in golf and you have a challenge worthy of the Tournament’s field. With Tiger Woods out, look for Phil Mickelson to win again this year or at the very least, make a strong showing. To do so, however, he’ll again to account for all the changes made to the course and play accordingly. Adjusting to weather and course conditions helps players maintain low golf handicaps year after year.

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros.” He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.

Most of us think we sink a lot of short putts. But research indicates otherwise. Weekend golfers sink only about half of their 12-foot putts. While professional golfers under tour conditions sink only about 20 percent of them. The emphasis here, of course, is on “under tour conditions,” which increases putting difficulty.

But sinking more short putts improves your golf handicap, since we usually have many more short putts than long ones during a round. So if you’re really serious about lowering your golf handicap, work on sinking more short putts.

One area of short putting to focus on is alignment. Poor alignment causes more missed short putts than almost anything else. The tips below on help improve alignment.

Correct Shoulder Misalignment
Pulled putts hurts many a weekend golfer. Among the biggest causes of pulled putts is shoulder misalignment. Players with low golf handicaps tend to blame pulled putts on a breakdown of the wrists. But that’s not always the case. If your shoulders are misaligned, you’ll pull putts.

Next time you’re on the practice green, try this simple test: Go through your pre-shot routine. Take your address. Now, bend down and place your club’s shaft lengthwise along your feet so that it’s touching your toes. If the shaft is not running parallel to the target line, you may have discovered why you’re pulling your short putts.

How can you fix this? First, push your hands as close together as possible. The closer your hands, the less likely you are to dip your back shoulder toward the ball, caused by how you grip the club. Second, think of the line of your shoulders as you address the ball. If you’re fighting a pull, make sure your shoulders are parallel to the target line. That way when you swing, it will be along the line of the putt, not out to in.

Aligning The Putterface
In addition to aligning your shoulders properly, your must also align your putterface correctly. The putter’s sweet spot must be perpendicular to the target for the ball to be online and stay that way during the putt. If you’re missing short putts, you could be taking this fundamental for granted—a common error among players with high golf handicaps.

Practicing the credit card drill helps eliminate this problem:

Find a straight 8-foot putt on the practice green and drop a ball down. Go through your normal pre-shot routine, and then take your address. Once you’re set, have a friend switch the ball for a credit card, placing it square to the ball with the long sides pointing toward the hole. Now rise up, stand back, and look along the card’s long edges. These lines should bracket the hole.

If you’re off, repeat the drill, but align the credit card first. Then place the ball on top of it. Now set your putterface square to the edges of the credit card. This allows you to see what straight looks like. After a few practice sessions, you’ll get an idea of what straight really is.

Line-up The Lettering
Another method of improving alignment is perhaps the simplest of all. Find a green where you have a straight putt about 10 to 12 feet. Now drop a ball down and take your address. Align yourself as you normally would. Make sure the clubface is at right angles to the ball. Now, holding the putter tightly, kneel down behind the putter and look over the putterhead to see if you had the putter aligned correctly. If not, keep working on this until you do.

In addition, you can reduce alignment problems when playing by using an old trick that many pros use. Before putting, place a marker behind your ball. Now bend down and align the ball’s lettering so that it’s aiming directly at the hole. Go through your pre-shot routine and take your address. Make sure the putter’s sweet spot is perpendicular to the lettering on the ball before putting. If it is, you’re aligned properly.

Tiger Woods spends about 45 percent of his time on the practice green hitting short putts. That tells you how important sinking those 10 and 12 footers really is. To sink more short putts, take proper alignment seriously. Make sure you are correctly aligned on every putt, even the short ones. Sinking more short putts chop strokes off golf handicaps.

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros.” He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.

How To Break 80 Newsletter

April 30, 2008
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“The Web’s Most Popular Golf Improvement Newsletter”
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In this issue we’ll discuss…

1) Warming Up Your Wrist Hinge
2) Elbows Rule In Putting
3) Question of the Week - Getting It Together On The Course
4) Article - Hitting More Greens Cuts Golf Handicaps
5) Article - Smashing It Straight

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1) Warming Up Your Wrist Hinge
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Maybe you were finishing a last minute project at work, traffic was heavier than anticipated, or something out of the ordinary occurred. Whatever it was, it prevented you from hitting balls at the practice range. Now you find yourself on the first tee, and you’re tight.

Luckily, you hit your first drive fairly straight. You’re about 170 yards to the green and you need a mid-iron to get to the pin. But with a tight swing, you know you’ll never make it. What do you do? You need to find the rhythm and timing in your swing before hitting your next shot.

Setting the club correctly in your backswing is the key to doing this. This critical move ties everything in your swing together. The key is rehearsing this move a couple of times before swinging.

Here are 5 tips on how to do that:

* Take your regular address position
* Cock the club
* Bend your wrists back
* Make sure the club is parallel
* Watch for the wrinkles

Take your normal address position. Then, cock the club straight up by hinging your wrist until the shaft is just short of horizontal. Now, take the club back by bending your wrists until the club’s shaft is parallel to the target line. As you do, check your right wrist. If you’re left-handed, check your left wrist. If you see wrinkles across the back of your right wrist, you’ve done it correctly.

Do this exercise a few times before you hit your next shot. It only takes a few seconds. But it helps produce a more fluid swing. And getting off to a good start makes a difference in how well or poorly you play the round.

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2) Elbows Rule In Putting
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Starting the ball on line is critical in putting. If your putts are not on line, there’s no way to correct for it once the putt is made. The ball just keeps rolling right on past the hole. That’s why professional players emphasize this phase of putting. They know what happens when they don’t

Your elbows play an important role in making sure your putts start on line. New studies using advanced motion analysis systems indicate that the distance between your elbows says a lot about your putting setup and your ability to start the ball on line when putting. These studies show that when your elbows are 12 inches apart, with the pockets pointing almost straight up, they bend the right amount to put you in the best position to smooth stroke back and forth on the ideal path.

Here are the findings from the studies:

* When your elbows are less than 12 inches apart, your arms become too tight to make a fluid stroke. You have to stand up to keep your hands on the handle of the club.

* When your elbows are about 12 inches apart, your arms hang relaxed and tension- free, they way they should. In addition, your shoulders square up to the target line.

* When your elbows are greater than 12 inches apart, your posture becomes too hunched over. You’re likely to stand up during your stroke and push the ball to the right. Vice versa for left-handers.

One of the keys to sinking a putt is placing your elbows about 12 inches apart when you set up. Once you’ve taken your putting stance, check to see how far apart they are. Use a mental picture of a ruler to figure the distance. If you’re elbows aren’t 12 inches apart, make an adjustment. This exercise helps your putts get off on the right path every time you putt.

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3) Question of the Week - Getting It Together On The Course
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Q. Hi, Jack, I started playing golf again after nearly 40 years and I just love it. Things have changed some during that time, and basically, I have had to start over. I have extensively studied swing mechanics and I am familiar with them. However, I have a hard time putting it all together on the course. I usually do fine on the range and putting green, but struggle on the course. Do you have any suggestions on how to overcome the mental “overload “on the course and bring everything together?

Thanks,
Joe Klumpp
Mandeville, LA.

A. That’s a great question, Joe. Many people have the same problem. And one of the biggest reasons is thinking too much about what happened on the last hole. Forget the two-footer you just missed, the bad drive you just made, or the lake that’s coming up. Instead, focus on the five-footer you have right now. Block everything else out.

Below are other mental strategies you can use to help you control the one thing in your game you can control—how you play.

Think Small
Hitting to an area isn’t always good enough. Think smaller. Pick out a spot on the green or the fairway and hit to it. It’s called narrowing your focus.

Use Visualization
Visualization is powerful. Use it as much as you can. All sport is led by the mind: what you see is what you get. The easiest way to access the power of visualization is through mental imagery.

Stay in the moment
Stay in the moment. Don’t think about the outcome of your shot. When you do, you’re focusing on the uncontrollable. Focus instead on what you can do now.

Enjoy the game
Why do you play? Is it for relaxation? Camaraderie? Mastery? Whatever the reason, remind yourself every why you originally started playing. If you’re going to play golf, you might as well enjoy it. Right?

These mental strategies work. They may not turn you into a PGA pro, but they will help you get it together on the course. If you’re serious about improving your game, work on both the physical and the mental sides of the game.

If you’ve got a golf question you’d like answered, send an email to us at questions@howtobreak80.com and we’ll review it. I can’t guarantee that we’ll use it but if we do, we’ll make sure to include your name and where you’re from.

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If you want to truly discover the secrets of shooting like the Pros and creating a more reliable and consistent swing, check out: http://www.HowToBreak80.com

Also, for past issues of this newsletter and some of my most recent articles, visit our blog at www.HowToBreak80.com/blog

To view this newsletter online, please visit:
http://www.howtobreak80.com/newsletter04302008.html

Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article - Hitting More Greens Cuts Golf Handicaps
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/hitting-more-greens-cuts-golf-handicaps.html
5) Article - Smashing It Straight
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/smashing-it-straight.html

Until next time,

Go Low!

Jack

P.S. Feel free to share this newsletter with family and friends. If you would like to subscribe to this newsletter, send a blank email to break80ezine@aweber.com

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About the Author
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Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80 and Shoot Like the Pros!”. He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicaps quickly. His free weekly newsletter goes out to thousands of golfers worldwide and provides the latest golf tips, strategies, techniques and instruction on how to improve your golf game.

Some players drive the ball 250 yards or more every time, but they can’t keep it on the fairway. The harder they try to stay on the fairway, the more they hook it. As a result, they find themselves in a clump of trees or under a bush, without a good second shot, hurting their golf handicap. They’ve taken golf lessons and read golf tips. And they’ve tried throttling back. But they still can’t cure their big hook.

If that’s you, read on. There’s a simple way to cure the problem. All you have to do is make a minor change in your grip—one pioneered by golfing great Ben Hogan. The change takes a little getting used to, as most adjustments do, so you’ll have to hit a few buckets of balls to get comfortable with it. But once you do, you’ll hit the ball straighter than before with just as much power. And you’ll shave strokes off your golf handicap.

A Smasher’s Instinct
Hogan had a smasher’s instinct. When he was on the tee, the right-hander didn’t want to just drive the ball well. He wanted to crush it. He wanted to hit it out of sight. And for a small guy, he hit it a long way. But like many big hitters, Hogan had problems with direction. Whenever he tried to throttle back, he just made things worse. Throttling back just wasn’t in his nature.

But a simple change in his grip transformed him from Captain Hook to Captain Power Fade. Hogan realized that by weakening his grip a bit, he could control his hook and still hit the ball as hard as he wanted. Rather than fight a strong, three-knuckle grip, he decided to change grips. He turned his left hand so that he only saw one knuckle at address while his right palm faced the target. The change let him smash the ball without hooking it.

The change was exactly what Hogan needed. It transformed his game. By the time he retired in 1971, he was not only one of the most feared golfers of his time, he also one of the best of all time. After turning pro in 1929, he won 64 PGA Tour championships. Of these, nine were major championship wins—4 masters, 2 U.S Opens, 1 British Open, and 2 PGA Championships.

Strong Forearms Helped
Keep in mind though that Hogan had very strong forearms. They allowed him to take a weak grip and still square the clubhead at impact. If you don’t have strong forearms, you may want to adjust your grip so that you see one and one-half knuckles on your left hand at address. Then place your right hand on the club so that the palm is facing the target, like Hogan did.

Like most changes, this new grip takes getting used to. Hit balls on the practice range with the grip before trying it on the course. You’ll probably slice a few before getting the hang of it. But the more you let your right side in the swing, if you’re right-handed, the smaller the slice will be. Vice versa for left-handers. And since you can’t hook it, swing as aggressively as you like. You’ll still hit a fade. And you’ll probably still end up on the fairway.

Henry Cotton’s Tire Drill
To get used to hitting the ball with a weak left-handed grip, try one of Henry Cotton’s favorite drills. Cotton was a great player and teacher. He got his students used to hitting with a weak left-handed grip by having them hit an old tire. Here’s how:

Grab an old iron. Grip it with your left hand, so that no more than one and one-half knuckles show. Lay the tire down where you’d tee the ball. Now take some swings with your left arm only. If you’re left-handed, use your right arm.

How can you tell if you’re closing the clubface when you hit the tire? Don’t worry, you’ll know. If the clubface is closed, you’ll feel solid contact. If it’s open, you’ll feel an extra shock in your arm. Use this drill sparingly to prevent injury. You don’t want to injure yourself during a practice session.

Mastering this change in grip conquers the hook for big hitters. Of course, taking a few golf lessons and reading golf tips can’t hurt, either. But the change in grip is something you can do right now. Just have a little patience. The change feels strange at first, but once assimilated, it helps lower golf handicaps. It also puts the fun back in driving the ball.

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros.” He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.